walking in the light of God's Word

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Day: April 9, 2019

Luke 12:33Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

This is similar to what Jesus asked the rich young ruler to do. And he had gone away sad, loving his possessions too much. But where are our hearts when we are confronted with the same thing? Do we resist as much as that man did? Do we question what Jesus is asking of us? Do we value too much the things we can have and hold? Do we want to keep what we have for ourselves, or are we willing to give to someone else?

Jesus promises to provide our needs. He is not ignorant of the necessary things that life on this earth requires. But Jesus gave up His riches and became poor for our sakes. He lived on this earth without a place to lay His head. And will we yet cling stubbornly to so many useless things we want to have for ourselves? Jesus is always challenging us to not be so caught up in things to have. He doesn’t want us to be so consumed and controlled by wealth and possessions. That is what the world seeks after, but we are to seek God and His kingdom instead.

So what Jesus calls us to is not to keep and collect and gather, but to spend, give, use, and share. He invites us to bless others with what He has given to us and to accumulate heavenly treasure. He rewards our selflessness. He loves a generous heart that matches His own. He gives us more than enough not so that we can be super rich, but so we can have the blessing of giving to others and having a part in His work.

Jesus is the ultimate example of placing others above Himself, and He asks the same of us. The way Jesus asks us to live is challenging. The things He asks us to consider go against the popular notions of the world. It is, in a way, a radical thing to live like Jesus lived and to do all that He commands us to do. So are we willing to commit to living that way and set ourselves aside? Or do we settle for something less than that? Jesus is to be our supreme focus. His work is to be our main occupation. His example is to be followed, and His Word is to be obeyed. The choice, though, is ours whether we follow through on that or continue living like we always have.